'Complexics-4' Seminar

Complexics-4

Seminars for transdisciplinarity

The fourth seminar of the series Complexics, Complexics-4, with the session "Complejidades de la fonología suprasegmental" [Complexities of the suprasegmental phonology] by M. Pilar Ballesteros, on Wednesday, 5th November 2014, at 18:00,in Sala de professors [Professors' room] of the Faculty of Philology, UB (Aribau, 2). This seminar was the following:

M. Pilar Ballesteros did her PhD on a thesis that criticizes the current theories on the analysis of the intonation and describes the intonation of the speech in northern Spain. She has developed her teaching and research in theoretical studies about complexity and interdisciplinariety and her interests are in philosophical issues and the importance of the aesthetic and literary formation in shaping the human personality. She is an associate professor in UB and UIC (she was also an associate professor in UNIR) and she is currently driving the movement to simplify legal language proposed by the Ministry of Justice.

In the field of suprasegmental phonology, theories that enjoy greater prestige follow Generativist or structuralist approaches. They are rooted in the dyadic concept of the sign language proposed by Saussure and, in our opinion, are not able to offer a theory of intonation that is satisfactory. If access to a deep knowledge of the language alive is looked for, we must admit that language is not an autonomous object of study as linguistics sometimes tries.

In this seminar, we show the effectiveness of the complex thinking principles in this area. According to this aim, the seminar is divided into four parts: 1) Firstly, it is explained, broadly speaking, what is a complex system and identifies three ways of understanding complexity. 2) Then, we analyze a fundamental concept to the complex thinking: the emergence and it is shown their effectiveness in understanding the phonological phenomena. 3) Thirdly, it is explained how complex thought is being exploited in the study of phonetics and segmental phonology because it can inspire who study suprasegmental phonology, still undeveloped. 4) In the last part, we present the impact that the principle hologramatic hason this study of intonation.